Dear colleagues,

Your excellencies,

Ladies and gentlemen,

I thank you for your presence here today,

I am particularly pleased to see the delegations from Kosovo and Serbia are sitting around the same table.

Allow me also to thank our special guests, whose presence today is another meaningful sign of this forum’s importance and a strong support for our common work and purpose.

It has been an eventful year for the SEECP: I would like to express my gratitude to all the participants, the SEECP Troika, Austria, the Latvian presidency, the European Commission, and to the RCC for their constant support and solidarity.

In my view SEECP remains the main political forum of cooperation in South Eastern Europe, and a promoter of security, social and economic development in our region.

However, the European neighborhood is changing at an increasingly faster pace, with inevitable consequences on our region. As a result, we believe the European Union should pay closer attention to the future geopolitical importance of the SEECP region. Not only the conflict in Ukraine, but also the barbarian and violent outbursts of the Islamic State pose serious security threats at our borders and national security threats within our borders.

We are all aware that after the various attempts to put an end to the violence in Ukraine, it appears that the confrontation is here to stay.

In the short term, an end to the crisis is unlikely if the Minsk II agreement is not effectively held. Therefore deterioration of the situation should be expected. Given this undesirable but likely scenario there is a risk that South East Europe becomes a playground between the US and EU on one hand and Russia on the other. This is something that we must strive to avoid.

While the issue of the Islamic state terrorist fighters is a multifaceted problem, the terrorist fighters that return to their countries of origin can pose a serious threat to EU and Western Balkans as a transit area.

Let’s not forget that the overwhelming majority of these fighters are equipped with EU passports. They are EU citizens.

Next to these security issues there is a risk that our region’s economic gap between EU member states and non-EU member states widens further, making the prospect of EU integration ever more distant.

In the above-described context, the countries of the region will now have to pay greater attention to security and make more efforts in the fight against terrorism. Let’s not forget the euro-crisis is still very much alive and has hit severely some of our countries.

So what can the SEECP states and the EU – do?

First, as Western Balkans we need to further stabilize our region: For the first time in the Western Balkans’ modern history, not only we are living in peace, but we are also on a continued path of regional integration. The Western Balkans have drastically increased cooperation and coordination and intend to further this trend in the near future.

Second, the SEECP should support the fight for its security beyond EU borders. Especially the European Union can help ensure that resources and instruments, beyond domestic ones, are available for all afflicted countries to invest in strengthening security against diverse and looming threats.

Third, NATO should continue to engage with the region as a whole.

And all relevant institutions must share strategic information about how best to mitigate the domestic threat that terrorism might pose in European countries due to returning IS fighters.

In this regard, the Joint Statement we are going to adopt today will be another strong message and a   common contribution of the SEECP participants in the fight against international terrorism.

The aforementioned threats both affect the EU’s energy security. In such a challenging context, the Western Balkans’ integration in EU energy corridors could help the EU gain energy independence from sources that constantly face instability. Our geographic position, especially our access to the Sea makes us a beneficial partner for any energy strategy.

The EU should integrate its near-neighborhood in its Energy Union projects and instruments in order to gain stability, to create a new momentum for the European idea and to offer a perspective for its allies.

In this context we welcome the proposal to establish the High Level Group on Central and South Eastern Europe Gas Connectivity – CESEC. Such an initiative will prove valuable in reducing some uncertainties.

We do not expect or anticipate the EU accession process to be finalized during the current EU Commission’s mandate, but we ask for a credible perspective and hope for a consolidated effort by the EU to assist the Western Balkan countries on their path to EU accession.

The economic aspect of any regional cooperation cannot be stressed enough. Let us not forget that as a result of the financial crisis, economic detachment is a real threat that has the potential to make our countries vulnerable. This would weaken valuable allies and markets, and especially those EU member states in the SEECP who need to stabilize their economies as well.

Of course we welcome President Juncker’s initiative to stimulate growth in the EU. And we would welcome any further instruments that would include countries of the near-neighborhood that are on their way to membership.

Last but not least, economic downturn in our region would lead to further migration to escape recession, which affects the EU as well as our countries.

Dear Friends,

Opportunities to move forward in regional cooperation are plenty and exist, but we have to be practical, focused and all-inclusive. The current regional cooperation set-up is somehow overburdened by dozens of cooperation formats and initiatives. Though these regional fora played an important role in the aftermath of the Cold-War, it is now time to spend our energies efficiently into those fora and mechanisms that really bring an added value.

The SEECP can act as a catalyst to a more efficient regional cooperation setup: we might think of different formulas, with the help of the RCC, in order to reduce the number of regional mechanisms that have become obsolete and reinforce those regional fora that bring considerable added value to our efforts towards full EU accession.

In conclusion, let me express my confidence that we will continue to work together to realize our common agenda of regional cooperation in the months ahead.

Thank you!